Mass Effect 3 Endings Completed by Only 42% of Players, Says BioWare

It has been more than five months since the release of Mass Effect 3 (ME3), and the highly-disputed controversial endings of the trilogy are once again being scrutinised for their influence on the game's completion. The epic finale of the third-instalment in the Sci-Fi space adventure game officially signals the end of Commander Shepard's career, according to BioWare.

As Eurogamer notes, only 42 percent of players have officially completed the game compared to 56 percent of gamers finishing its prequel - Mass Effect 2. BioWare's online development director, Fernando Melo has reportedly revealed the player data during an official press meet at GDC Europe on 13 August. Citing a better show with Mass Effect 2's completion rate, he points to the fact that the need to import Mass Effect 2 (ME2) files to ME3 for achieving the required Galactic battle readiness (before starting the final single-player mission) could have boosted its completion rate.

The data report further suggests that Mass Effect games' (ME2 and ME3) overall completion rate is far better than some other BioWare titles such as Dragon Age: Origins. While the original Mass Effect game amassed 40 percent of player completion status, just 36 percent finished Dragon Age: Origins and 41 percent barely managed to complete Dragon Age 2.

It has been speculated on BioWare's Social Network (BSN) forum whether the controversial endings of the finale were responsible for the below-average participation of players with the game's endings. On the contrary, some fans suggest a drastic increase in player participation due to the arousal of curiosity over controversy with the finale among the discerning gamers.

Here is what the community of gamers had to say about the game's completion rate on BSN forum:

"Word of mouth the ending sucks, could have contributed a bit to why people haven't completed the game, even though it's the most accessible of the series," opines one user.

"I'm probably part of that 58%. I didn't beat it, I got to the kid, critical mision failured trying to kill the kid and tried to limp my way away from the death machine, then youtubed the endings. There was no incentive for me to play the endings, so I just put it away and check back with the bords for updates," explains another.

"Curiosity about how bad it was probably contributed to the percentage. There was word out even before the game was released about how bad the ending was, so it started spreading pretty quickly. Don't think you could say that about ME2 or even 1," responds a third.

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut is BioWare's final attempt to redeem the franchise from its massive downfall. Although the expanded endings brought some respite to the broken plot-holes, while filling in key story elements, it miserably failed to justify players' decisions through the course of the trilogy.

According to GameNGuide citing a recent interview on YouTube, BioWare's Casey Hudson elaborated on the upcoming DLC (downloadable content) for the beleaguered franchise, while he also spoke at length about player feedback and admitted the original ending to the trilogy was indeed a disappointment.

"I think one aspect is that it's tough to let go of a storyline and characters that you enjoy," asserts Hudson, adding: "The endings didn't really leave a lot of time to say goodbye to the experience. So a lot of people just wanted more closure."